William Zolkowski Named New P-CEP Principal

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools officials recently named William Zolkowski the first principal of the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park. P-CEP has been managed by individual school principals (there are three large high schools on one campus) since it was created in the 1970s. He will begin his new job on July 1, 2009.

[See podcast dated 'April 8, 2009.' Bill Keith interviews Bill Zolkowski, the new Principal of Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (which includes Plymouth, Canton and Salem High Schools). They discussed his new job as well as his work in the South Redford School District.]

Zolkowski is currently the principal at South Redford’s Thurston High School, were he has served for the past seven years. His experience includes two years (2000 –2002) as an assistant principal at P-CEP. District officials are confident that Zolkowski’s experience as a high school principal and his knowledge of the P-CCS high school structure and operation made him the perfect candidate for the job.

“We had some outstanding applicants for this job, but it became clear that Bill was the right fit for us,” said P-CCS Director of Secondary Education Mike Bender. “Bill has a unique combination of skills that we think will make him the excellent leader of the Park. The fact that he has been an assistant principal with us in the past should help make a smooth transition. We are very excited to have him join our team.”

The change in leadership structure was made because the district was presented with a rare opportunity. All three principals at the P-CEP and four out of the ten current assistant principals have announced they will retire by the end of this school year. Because of this significant change in personnel, District official took advantage of the opportunity to examine the current formal leadership model.

In the past 30 years, expectations from the state and federal levels have increased greatly. The district has experienced continued growth in student population. In the last five years alone the P-CEP has shown an increase in fall count numbers of more than 650 students, bringing the current enrollment to more than 6,000. What has remained the same is that the Plymouth-Canton community continues to have high expectations for academic achievement, a safe school environment, a variety of quality extra and co-curricular activities and customer service. To effectively serve the community, it is essential to have a leadership structure in place to enable the district to meet and exceed these high expectations.

Zolkowski also taught at Thurston for six school years. Both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from Eastern Michigan University.